De León's Colony (Texas)

De León's Colony was a colony in northern Coahuila y Tejas state of the First Mexican Republic, established by Martín De León in 1824. It was the only ethnically Mexican colony founded during the Mexican period (1824-1835) whose site is located within the present day U.S. state of Texas.

Victoria was the center of the colony, which was part of an effort by the Mexican government to settle Coahuila y Tejas. De León was one of several empresarios who were granted colonization contracts under the Mexican government. Others were Stephen F. Austin, Green DeWitt, Haden Edwards, David G. Burnet, Lorenzo de Zavala and Sterling C. Robertson. Of these, only De León and Austin successfully completed the colonizations. Upon De León's death in 1833, the colony's value was estimated at $1 million.

In 1799, Martín De León and his wife Patricia de la Garza De León established a cattle ranch in Spanish Texas, in the area of present day San Patricio County, Texas. In both 1807 and 1809 Martín De León petitioned the Spanish government in the Viceroyalty of New Spain for permission to colonize in this area. Both petitions were denied.

After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, colonization possibilities looked more favorable. On April 13, 1824, prior to the 1824 Constitution of Mexico enactment on October 4, the provisional Mexican government approved a contract allowing Martín De León to settle forty-one Mexican families on the lower Guadalupe and Lavaca Rivers, in the vicinity of Coleto, Garcitas, Arenosa, and Zorillo (Placido) creeks. Under the contract, each settler received a town lot, plus one league (4,228 acres) of grazing land and one labor (177 acres) of arable land. It was the only colony in Texas settled predominately by Mexicans, as opposed to colonists who emigrated from outside Mexico. De León was to receive five leagues (22,140-acres) upon the settlement of the forty-one families. The site of the Martín De León ranch would be located on Garcitas Creek.

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